Thursday, July 8, 2010

Eating (and drinking) in Atlanta

A few months before our trip, I asked a couple of my friends, both who have family in the south, for suggestions of what to do and see in Atlanta - aka Hotlanta, Fatlanta :-) . They both said that, if we did nothing else in Georgia, we had to eat at the Waffle House and Busy Bee Cafe in Atlanta. They were right!

The Waffle House specializes in the typical 24-hour-a-day American breakfast fare. Don't go there expecting to find granola and yogurt; they don't have it - or anything else resembling health food. What they do have is the kind of hearty and substantial breakfast my grandmother, also from the south, liked to serve. I ordered the biscuits and gravy. It was everything I expected and more. I can honestly say I was FULL all day long.

Problem: we had more places to eat, and only a little time left in Georgia.

Being thirsty after such a belt-loosening meal, we visited the World of Coca Cola. At $15 a ticket, we couldn't decide if it was a small amusement park, an educational trip, or the worlds most exotic advertisement for Coke. I think the latter would be the best description. If you're into Coke - and I'm not - you can see all the Coke memorabilia ever made. To be fair, the best part was the tasting room , where the drinks are free and unlimited, features all 60 some odd brands of Coca Cola beverages. For me, that justified the admission price. But... stay away from Beverly, a really horrendous drink which tastes like ground grapefruit seeds. What were the inventors of that thinking?

Waiting for the 3-D movie at the World of Coca Cola.

Kristin being served by the inventor of Coke.

After the Coke experience, more eating..... The sign says it all. An embarrassing story: got locked in the bathroom which was 3 feet away from the band that was performing that night. Someone had to let me out :-)

Best ribs I've ever had!!!!!!

Biscuits and gravy, coke out the ears, ribs...we decided to go for a midnight snack...

Next morning, we were all scheduled to fly out of Atlanta, a little chubbier for the experience, but we had one last place to go - Busy Bee Cafe, a busy little cafe surrounded by several colleges on Martin Luther King Blvd. As we (when I say we, I mean Kristin, Dane and I. John was still overloaded from the previous day's eat-a-thon) were waiting to order, I wondered out loud about what looked good on the menu. The gentleman in front of me turned and said, "It's awlllllgoooood. You can't go wrong with nothin here" and he was right. We had a cheek-tightening feast at Busy Bee.

Fried chicken, creamed corn, and mac and cheese.

My smothered chicken, fried okra, and sweet potatoes. Kristin topped her meal off with a slice of sweet potato pie.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Georgia. Dane, dressed in his uni, flew out to Utah, and we all return to California.

This has been a really tough summer of goodbyes for me as all my kids are growing up and leaving, some across the globe. Mark and Jasmine are going to Korea for a year before he starts medical school, Dane and Lindsey are in Utah, and Michael will going on his 2 year mission soon. Gotta say, I really miss them all, crazy laundry, late nights, endless streams of friends dropping in at all hours, etc. etc. The house can be pretty quiet!